After the reception

[LSirola]

My fiance and I are getting married in his uncles back yard. There will be about 50 people at the wedding and reception. I am at his uncles house this weekend, trying to plan stuff with his aunt. We were going over the wedding day schedule.
Us girls are getting our hair done first thing in the morning, then we will do alot of pictures before the wedding in the backyard after getting ready. The wedding is at 1pm. Then we will relax with guests and eat, then dance a little bit. Then just kind of hang out and cut the cake. When should we leave? Originally we were going to leave about 4:30, but thinking about it now it just seems like we'll be rushing the whole day. Our wedding is also a two hour drive for most of the people coming. So I feel like I'll be short changing them if we leave so early. I would like to stay untill about 6-7pm depending on how the day goes.
The problem? We are honeymooning in Orlando. Orlando is about a 3-4 hour drive from Ft Lauderdale where we are getting married. I wonder if we should just stay in Ft Lauderdale that night and then drive to Orlando the next day? Or if we should drive to Orlando that night even if it is late at night? I want my fiance to have a good time, its his day too. I know he wont drink, maybe just a champagne toast, if he has to drive.
What is everyone else doing? Are you staying in the area that night? Or are you leaving for you honeymoon right after the reception?
Any suggestions for me? Keep in mind, that this isnt' going to be a huge raging party. It is our families and just a few friends. I just feel bad leaving the reception so early if we are all having a good time still.
Lauren

[KrissyCat7]

I would spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale. That way you can play it by ear...stay until the party starts to die down, and you dont have to spend your evening driving. You can go back to the hotel, shower, relax, and enjoy one another.

That is what I would do.

[IrishMeg]

I"m in a very similar situation and we are choosing to spend the night in our home town and leave for the honeymoon the next day. We were going to leave that night but with a 2 o'clock wedding and a 3 or 4 hour drive (To St. Augustine from Tampa), it just didn't seem worth it. It will be less stressful to leave the next day.

[nuhmah]

I would stay the night in Ft. Lauderdale - spend the time relaxing and hanging out with your guests. Sleep in the next morning, and then drive when you are good and rested. :) We put off our HM by a day and a half, and I am so glad we did. That extra day to rest was well worth it!

[Whitters20]

Definitely stay the night in Ft Lauderdale and drive to Orlando the next day. That way you will get a good night's sleep and you can leave for Orlando the next morning or afternoon and not be so tired when you get there. It will make it all much more relaxing. We stayed the night at our home after our wedding and left for our honeymoon at lunchtime the next day.

As far as what time you leave, did you put an end time to the reception on your invitations? Check with your fiancee's aunt and uncle to see what time they would like people to clear out to make sure they have time to clean up, etc. If there is no official end time to your reception, then I would just play it by ear. Will you be be serving lunch at your wedding? Or dinner? If you get married at 1 pm and are not serving dinner, there's a good chance that guests will want to clear out in time to make it back home for dinner or go out to eat somewhere. But there's no need to leave the reception if everyone is still having fun and you are staying the night in Ft Lauderdale. Have fun!

[Sazoo]

Some guests may start to leave once you cut the cake, so while your closest friends & family might stick around until 6 or 7 to continue the celebration with you, I'd be prepared for the group to dwindle quite a bit toward the later part of the afternoon. Unless you're planning to serve some sort of dinner meal that they want to stick around for, but like Whitters20 said, if you're not serving dinner then some guests may want to leave early enough to get home for dinner or go out to get dinner somewhere on the way home.

As for whether you should stay the night in Ft. Lauderdale or drive to Orlando that evening, I agree with the others that you should stay somewhere local that night so you can stay at your wedding reception as long as there are guests there to mingle with without feeling rushed to get on the road. Plus, you'll be excited but also really tired after your big day is over, & doing a long drive at that point won't be nearly as fun as going back to a hotel or someone's house or whatever so you can just relax & enjoy your first evening together as husband & wife. ;)

[tlew12778]

I would stay in Ft. Lauderdale for the night. I wouldn't want a departure time hanging over my head during the reception IYKWIM.

We are staying at the villa where our reception is being held. Half the villa is a hotel so we'll be staying in a suite there. We actually don't leave for HM until 2 days after the wedding.

[lil_geek]

Another vote for staying in Ft. Lauderdale, from what others have told me, it's a long enough day, without adding a few hour drive.

We are having an evening reception, so it will likely end at 1am. We are staying in the hotel where the reception is... and we aren't even leaving on the Sunday for our Honeymoon.... we have had many friends do it and say it was too rushed. We are looking to leave Monday or Tuesday so we have a day or so to unwind and relax before travelling.

[Layla]

Stay overnight and head to Orlando the next morning.

You definitely won't want to leave all the fun. It's YOUR day and you should be there to celebrate for as long as you want! I'm sure the party will go later than you planned and you will be so happy to see everyone you know and love in one place, you definitely won't want to rush out. It's YOUR special day, so savor every minute of it! Is there a nice hotel nearby that you could stay at? If not a honeymoon suite, even just a private hotel room? Maybe you could arrange a private luxury sedan to pick you up at your uncle's house around 10 or so and you can be whisked off to the hotel?

[Happy1]

Another vote for staying the night and heading out the next day. Our reception was supposed to end at midnight. We didn't leave there till 1 a.m. and we had to literaly kick about 20 guests out because we had to be out of the hall (we had a much much larger group there early on in the evening). We were still chatting and talking up until that time though.

You'll enjoy everything so much more if you don't have to worry about when you're going to leave and you won't have to feel bad about leaving the party early then.

Nikki:D

[Atlanta_eBride]

One more for staying in Ft. Lauderdale for the evening. It will prove to be less stressful for you and you won't end up being so tired on your honeymoon.

[Janey]

Another vote for staying the night. Take it easy and enjoy the day (and the next!). No need to rush rush rush.

We stayed the night in Seattle, and planned to leave the next day. But we were even so exhausted the next day that we didn't want to do the drive that day, either. We ended up going over to my grandmother's house and opening gifts there, because I wanted to write some thank-yous while we were on our honeymoon. It worked out great!

[LSirola]

Thank you for all of your suggestions, and input. As of right now, we are going to stay the night and then drive the next day, it will cut our "vacation" short by about a half of a day, but for us any day not at work is a vacation.
Lauren

[la_bride_2004]

I would stay in town for the night!

We were married on a Saturday and did this, and didn't leave for the honeymoon until Monday. It was perfect! We had time to catch our breath and pack before our flight out (we were so busy the week before we didn't have time to do this).

[rosa727]

Definitely stay in town. You KNOW you are going to be having a blast - even if it is not a raging party. I'm guessing you will want to be there until the last guest leaves - I know we did. We stayed until the reception was shut down, and our reception was 5 hours long. We still were not ready to stop celebrating so we went out to a lounge after with all of the younger guests (and anyone else who wanted to come). We stayed in our wedding clothes and partied into the wee hours of the night. Then we walked back to our hotel (where the reception was held) and still spent time together before going to bed and getting up early to head out on our honeymoon.

I say just party it up - it only happens once in a lifetime!